, 1887-06-01
TILE LOST MADONNA.

tercsted me, and whom I came to know
we'll The enjoyment OF ownership, I was
saying, was greatly enhanced by the sac
ritices which had been necessary to get the
prize. This pleasure had to be cut of,
that necessity dispensed with and so many
hours of precious limo devoted to getting
money by repulsive work The price had
been paid sum by sum, until now 1 was
full owner Of mt of the most beautiful
creations Of the day. In describing how
wonderfully the artist had felt the modu-
lation OF the earth In the bare Newport
pasture, how poetlcal was the coloring
n the lonely look of the wide fields, how
ancient and spectral the apple orchard on
the right, with its messy trunks and thick
limbs writhen by salt winds, splintered
by oats of ice In the long winters, I had
forgotten to name the workman. Even
when l came to speak OF the sea distance
melting with the most glorious colors Into
q mysterious horizon, half mist, half sky
line, and the sky itself Of that indetermin-
able blue which Is green, or of green that
is blue, Just as you happen to see it first
oven then 1 had not uttered his name.
You are not likely to know 1t, " an
swcred when my hostess inquired; 'not
a very distinctive one at best. Henry
Brown"
Mrs. Van Gordon dropped her spoon In
tho soup as II she had burned her tongue,
ben her head down and raised her napkin
TO her mouth
"What sort Of a follow is her" asked
Gorden in that hearty bass OF his, whirl-
ing bis silky beard aside with q gesture
that stamped him to his friends In any
crowd, however big.
CAS- queer rs they make them" said |.
"Fancy a tall, lean man, with long feat
ures, q long hand, a cynical look that
laatrOua what y,,,nt hn-n 49,. ux-.
physical beauty, absolute cnrelessness of
dress without any slovenliness, the most
haunting eyes that you have ever seen.
About the fine arts, by which he lives, or
rather ~starves, he has idens-or, perhaps
1t is truer to say, utters sentiments-most
rcpulsiye to those who love artistic crea-
tons. 1t is nil humbug, according 70 him,
n he Processes to be in O state of per-
petual wonderment how people can be
ounds SO foolish as to exchange gold dol
lars for daubs of paint. At the same timo
he acknowledges that IL is his interest to
continue the deception, for otherwise the
starvation which he now calls relative
would become absolute. Not that he con-
Eders his life worth anything; put his an
s%estors, having bequenthed to him an in
stinct of self preservation, way and over
ride his common sense so far as to compel
him to struggle just enough to exist"
l had turned naturally to Mrs. Van
Gorden rather than my friend during
these remarks, for that lady has q quiet
way of e1acting from the comrades of her
husband not Difference merely, but strict
attention. / never met a woman who did
this more simply and effectually wfthou.
seeming to intend 1t. Husband and guests
must make her the center; woe betids
anybody who shall forget what she con-
siders her duel Now, there are feelings
that betray themselves by n certain rigid
ity OF face, a forced fxity Of interest; tho
latter struck me in Mrs. Van Gordon
while / spoke OF Henry Brown.
"Do you know himf" / asked suddenly.
sh put her hand to her throat as II a
little choked, laughed, gave n quizzical
look, and said:
Him l know six Henry Browns"
"You could no mistake this one. He
n a man Of the most tortuous mind, with
whom argument consists of q series OF
escapes Into fresh holes in h ground,
whence he win peep with q strange, sat
urnine glee of his own and shift as soon
as hard pressed. He WINS admirably edu-
eated in some Jesuit college or other so
far rs concerns the classics and what the
old p~edagogues used to call dialectics; but
all science is n dead wall to his mind.
He hns a mania, however, for inveighing
against science, and as he would rather
die than read a scientific book, his re-
marks are extremely picturesque, / can
tell you"
''I'd like you to show us the picture"
Quoth Gordon. "What do you say,
Edithir
"Ye-es. Some day or other, when it's
quite convenient. But you know how
full the engagement book is Just now"
i've told you one side OF him " / con-
tfnued; 'here's another. He is n Catholic,
you know, but, l should fancy, not q pro-
Tossing or strict Catholic. And you would
not be his friend long before you would be
surprised at finding yourself the subject
Of insidious attacks as a Protestant. That
stage would be followed by an aggressive
campaign intended to make you Join the
Roman church, The comic part is tina
he can't bear priests himself, and, 1 really
believe, never goes near a church"
Gordon glanced q trihe uneasily at his
wife as / said this, and I remembered
having heard something about Mrs, Van
Gordon TO the effect that she once Joined
the Catholics, or had at any rate coquetted
with Rome She changed the subject
rather abruptly, as II she Ind heard quite
enough Of painter and picture.
The truth was hat little was known of
Mrs. Van Gorden's early life. She was
supposed to come from Buffalo or other
pO"u WHICH tHe uuo uullUeu new 1Ork
person regards hazily as in the west. The
~stoutest scandal searcher was rebufred ny
her easy, smiling parties to the moro or
less brutal questions that were put regard
ing her family and autecedents. l only
once heard an allusion made by her TO her
Life before marriage and hat was In the
nature OF an unguarded outbreak when /
rallied her on an intense look of devotion
she directed toward Gordon. 1t was like
the breaking OF q cool bed OF lava:
'Tha mani You little know my con-
dition, what ! was, what / meant to do,
when that man saved me, made me,
created me again. I worship him. II he
died | should not live"
was scared, but strengthened, at auch
a flash as TINT; but she, scared and hu-
inflated. Poor Gordon is dead and his
widow lives; but you need not suppose
TINT she was posing or meant nothing.
No, she has learned that 1t is nobler to
live on for others than to allow herself to
wRste away because her mate is gone.
The G dny I heard Henry Browns
tap at mi door, ms he came In with tbs
Peculiar in medicinal merit and wonder.
ful cnres-HoOd's Sarsanarilla Moo 10